Discussion Day 1 (Friday May 7th, E day) Chapters 1-4:

Researcher: Lauren
Discussion Director: Will
Passage Master: Will
Connector: Graham

Class Notes

-Discussion Questions:
Will the fact that this book was written before 2001make the book different?
How does the economic and technological revolution affect the world as a whole and does it help any one group more than another?
Is the author bias in any way while writing the book, does he already have premeditated motions?
Are there any bad examples used for supporting evidence used by Rischard?
Was the opening to the book easy to understand or did the author jump into it to quickly without explaining basic things?
How do you think the economic and technological revolutions will affect the world as a whole, unify or dis unify?


-Passages:
" China will be well on it's way to becoming the worlds largest economy....Billions of computer chips will have launched a world in which objects talk to each other. Electronic money will have banks scrambling for new roles. Water will replace petroleum as a main cause of strategic tension.' pg 1.

"List of stresses that will come from the population increase goes on, infectious disease, loss of tropical rain forest,fisheries depletion, biodiversity losses, pollution of the seas, and increasing water scarcity, to name a few." pg 8.

"There are virtually no countries that haven't adopted market oriented policies by now. Most have lowered their trade barriers, privatized public enterprises when it makes sense, made the state less a business operator and more a regulator and challenger, and opened public utilities to competition." pg 11.


-Connection:

in the middle east and Africa they are already fighting over land with water.
people are fleeing countries in Africa and from Central America and Mexico
with today's economy people are trying to seek profit have to do extra work to come away with money
increase in the amount of people using anything related to technology
small companies are combining to create small chains to stay together

-Research:
http://klatcher.com/ExecDigital/Technology_in_the_Year_2020 Technology in 2020
http://www.dhushara.com/book/diversit/bomb.htm Explosion of Population
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1998/7/98.07.02.x.html Population growth- consequences and causes


Works Cited:




Discussion Day 2 (Monday May 10th, F day) Chapters 5-7:

Researcher: Graham
Discussion Director: Lauren
Passage Master: Lauren
Connector: Will

Class Notes:

-Discussion Questions:
-how many of these opportunities can we take advantage of?


1. On pages 27 and 28 it says: "The pickup in productivity growth seems clear. For the United States, for example, productivity growth has been 2.5 percent per year in 1995-2000, against about 1.5 percent in 1973-1995. And that gain is worth a lot.... Interestingly, U.S. productivity growth has been holding up well even into the third and fourth quarters of 2001, despite the September 11 events." How do you think the productivity growth is holding up today? Is it still going up?
2. China had thought about making smart cards which would allow them into the era of electronic money. Why can China do this? Why are they so much more advanced? Does it have anything to do with Globalization?
3. What will the New World Economy do to those who can't keep up? (Those who aren't fast, those who aren't good at networking, those who aren't constantly learning, and those who aren't reliable)
4. Why will some countries (like countries in Africa) miss out completely on the New World Economy?
5. Why does the New World Economy have "no clue" when it comes to limits/limitations?
6. Look at the figure on page 38. Why do human institutions develop or increase at a much lower pace?
7. Why are traditional hierarchies no longer the best system?
8. From these chapters, have we learned anything new about what globalization is and why it matters?

-Passages:
"The distinction between rich and poor is now accompanied by other stark distinctions: between fast and slow; good at networking and not plugged-in; constantly learning and being static. And between entirely reliable and anything less." -PG 30

"If we trust the market to solve all our problems, we'll end up with scores of unnecessary social stresses over the next twenty years- and a lot of protesters in the street." PG 34

"Human problems are becoming more global, and more difficult to solve- technically and politically. A crisis of complexity is brewing." PGS 37 & 38

"In periods of intense and complex change, traditional hierarchies fall short- the future belongs to flatter, faster, more network-like organizations." PG 42

"For all these reasons, forget about the government- federal, regional, local- being able to solve tomorrow's complex problems alone, without major help from the other two sectors of society. These problems are so ominous and challenging that the three sectors must combine their knowledge and their energy to get them solved." PG 51

"It will take partnerships among government, business, and civil society to solve intractable problems." PG 51


-Connection:
In chapter 7 the book was talking about New Zealand as an example of leading the movement into a the new order of organization and moving away from hierarchy systems. My history techer at the ski school I went to in Vermont lived in New Zealand for two years after he got out of college and he said that it was a great place to live and that the government ran much better and was much more supported than the U.S. government.


The book was talking about new markets in chapter 5 and I found that to be very true in our world today and the predicted future because since 2000 when the book was written we now have new products like youtube, you can do most of your money habdliung online, computers are much better, and new inventions are being made everyday.

When Reischland was talking about how there were much different rules for success it was shown like how the companies who move towards the internet and technology are doing much better than companies that expect people to come in the door all of the time.

Also when Reischland was talking about how there was to much weight put on rest depending on the ecomomy we were shown that to be true because of the extreme stock market blackout last year and one of the main causes for why everything went astray and so many people lost their jobs is because there was to much dependency on the market.

In terms of a motivated basis the American youth is pretty unmotivated and not many are super patriotic. This shows we didn't follow Reischland's plan.


-Research:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_34/b3948401.htm talks about how economic power will shift
http://openthefuture.com/2009/03/one_model_for_a_new_world_econ.html explains one of the possible models for the NWE

Works Cited:




Discussion Day 3 (Wednesday May 12th, B day) Chapters 8-11:

Researcher: Will
Discussion Director: Graham
Passage Master: Graham
Connector: Lauren

Class Notes

-Discussion Questions:
1. how does the being part of a larger group or institution affect how you can make a difference?
2. if what we are doing right now is not working what will?
3. does the fact that this was written 9 years ago affect what this? have we changed what we were doing since then?
4. are these problems something that have affected him in some way or is this just totaly opinion?
-Passages:
"Institutions, more wedded to rituals are even more resistant to change than individuals" pg. 56

"Because we're not doing enough to tackel the underlying problem: ineffective or slow global problem solving... we just talked about." pg 60


-Connection:
1. Rischard talked about how global issues were being ignored too much and we aren't doing enough to fix the problems. Take it on a school level, we could be doing a lot better when it comes to recycling and saving energy.
2. Rischard also talks about how we don't do enough to help poverty. When most of us see a poor person on the side of the street we don't do anything to help them. We don't donate to charities nearly as much as we should.
3.
Rischard also talks about how there is a lot of water shortages, and how if we don't fix anything by 2020 one person in three people will suffer from a water shortage. Most of us hog water and take too long of showers at home.
4. Rischard talks about how the Human Institutions cannot handle the stresses and therefore do not grow as much. When we can't handle the stresses we have at school we don't do as well either. Same for sports or during work- anything.


-Research:
http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php - The Kyoto Protocol
http://www.ciesin.org/TG/PI/POLICY/montpro.html - The Montreal Protocol


Works Cited



Discussion Day 4 (Friday May 14th, D day) Chapters 12-13:

Researcher: Lauren
Discussion Director: Will
Passage Master: Will
Connector: Graham

Class Notes

-Discussion Questions:
Which of these topics is the most important, which are the priority?
Are there any examples of recent events today that either show he was right or wrong in his predictions and statements?
Have any of Rischard’s theories been adapted?
Is there anything that may have been happening in the time he wrote this we as readers were too young to understand what was going on that may have led him to rationalize his statements?
Is Al Qaeida better networkers than us and if so, does that help them in the way the world is run today?
Will tackling poverty cause a chain reaction with the other world problems?

Will water deficits in the western world cause wars like petrol did in the Middle East?
Will issues involving sharing out planet cause the conflict zone in the Middle East to move elsewhere?


-Passages:
“Fishing is central to the livelihoods of and food securities of many countries, including entire countries and regions.” Pg 78
“Water defects are maybe a decade away from becoming a particularly ugly and dangerous global issue.” Pg. 85
“Serious oil spills and other accidents: despite major efforts at regulating ship construction and operations, serious accidents are still on the rise.” Pg. 86
“Reducing world poverty is arguably the main global challenge of the next twenty years.” Pg. 89
“Global Warming is making things much worse. Insurers predict huge losses form climate change on top of today’s already higher loss base.” Pg. 111

-Connection: Graham
deforestation causes massive industry but many natural problems and an increase in pollution
the fishery depletion will affect not just that industry but all the people who rely on fish for survival and many animals will have a hard time sustaining life
there are many groups of people that are trying to help decrease the amount of poor people in all the countries
oil spills are down and there have been tons of projects to prevent spills.

-Research: LAUREN
http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats --> Poverty map and statistics, 2005
http://www.usccb.org/cchd/povertyusa/map.htm --> Poverty around the world, map of poverty in the US
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-impacts-interactive.html --> Global warming effects map. Map showing the many effects of global warming and information on each of them.


Works Cited



Discussion Day 5 (Tuesday May 19th, F day) Chapters 14-15

Researcher: Graham
Discussion Director: Lauren
Passage Master: Lauren
Connector: Will

Class Notes

-Discussion Questions: LAUREN

1. Rischard talks a lot about how we are trying to fix these global problems but we are failing. Why is it that we are failing? Are we still failing today?
2. Why do drugs spread so quickly, why are they such a huge problem, and how will the spread and use of drugs affect the new world economy?
3. The new world economy takes a lot of adjusting and a lot of work... is it really work it? Will it actually benefit the world?
4. Do you think the reason we fail at fixing global issues is because we don't have a global drive to fix them?
5. Will the new world economy really fix things if people open up and agree to try new things?
6. Unity is the key, but how can we unify our world?
7. Why are rules and regulations so important especially in the new world economy?
8. Which issues are the most important out of the many Rischard talks about?
9. Why is it important for the world to be involved, why does global citizenship matter?
10. Have these issues been solved or are the in the mists of being solved? Are we any further than we were when this book was written? Is there any progress in these global issues?
11. Are people afraid of what will happen in the future like Rischard predicted?


-Passages: LAUREN

-"Drug trafficking now touches some 170 countries." (128)
-
"Drugs are too profitable, and production is cheap and moveable." (130)
-"The new world economy is, as we saw in earlier chapters, bent on knowledge and constant innovation- the opposite of a static economy." (140)
-"The world has become very small, entangled, and complex, brinign all kidns of global issues to the fore- none of which we can afford to leave unsolved for very long." (150)
-"Hunger is the issue, rather than food, and it is deeply linked to poverty." (153)
-"They are urgent global issues. For many of them, every year lost in taking them on means several years lost in getting them under control-" (154)

-Connection: WILL
  • On page 114 Rischard was talking about how the world used more paper money and how changing to electronic money would be hard but nowadays we do lots of monetary transactions over the internet like iTunes or on eBay.
  • On page 115 Rischard was talking a lot about eco and carbon taxes and they're people trying to push bills that do this through our government now.
  • Rischard mentioned the illegalization of arms and this is a big issue in our country and many others as well.
  • On page 117 Rischard started to talk about biotechnology rules and today there are lots of movies that are being made about scientific advances in such cateories as biotechnology like Children of Men and the new movie Splice.
  • Rischard was talking about how the world was not ready for financial crises because the world was getting so interconnected and last year when we had our economy plummet it affected eveyone elses as well.
  • When Rischard was talking about illegal drugs he brought up many issues like severity of punishments for drug abusers, the legalization of cannabis, and how the jail institution in our country affects the people sent there.
  • There's a huge debate over ntellectual property rights going on right now. On one side people say that it isn't fair that the inventor get to seclude their own rights to it because it hinders the whole world advancing and can set up monopolies. On the other hand people think that if you thought of or invented a product and patented it then the spread of it is yours to control because you invented it most likely to get ahead and also if their idea is taken from them it will take away what the inventor worked so hard for and would kill incentive for breakthroughs.
  • Rischard was also talking about immigration and emmigration. Right now we have the large debate over illegal Mexican immigrants and many lesser developed countries that are trying to advance are losing all their skilled workers to more advanced countries because the skilled workers leave to get more money.
  • Rischard also mentioned human trafficking which has amplified in our world since he wrote this book.

-Research: GRAHAM
http://www.lawyershop.com/practice-areas/criminal-law/white-collar-crimes/securities-fraud/lawsuits/enron/ information on the Enron scandal and what happened
http://www.justice.gov/dea/agency/penalties.htm penalties for drug trafficking
http://www.drugpolicy.org/global/drugtraffick/ more information on drugs and what the policies are for dealing with them

Works Cites



Discussion Day 6 (Friday May 21st, B day) Chapters 16-23:

Researcher: Will
Discussion Director: Graham
Passage Master: Graham
Connector: Lauren

Class Notes

-Discussion Questions: GRAHAM
1. “Most important, even when ratified a large number of treaties and conventions suffer from weak commitments or from slow and lax enforcement.” Why would you agree to something to help then not follow through this will only decrease your status in the world?
2. Why are the biggest most dangerous problems receiving the smallest amount of effort or care?
3. How many of these issues have not been addressed to day is it the same as when he was writing the book?
4. Does the U.S. administration continue to show distaste for treaties requiring congressional ratification?
5. When the Network reaches the next phase it expands its membership but wouldn’t you want the largest membership to stat with?
6. Would you deny access to people who wanted to help and would you expel people for fail to perform to the highest standards?
-Passages: GRAHAM
- “The complexity of many global issues and their lack of boundaries don’t sit well with the territorial and hierarchical institutions that are supposed to solve them: the nation states.” Pg. 157
- “… some treaties have generated results. But a large number of them have remained ungratified, including the Kyoto protocol (which still hasn’t been ratified at the time of this writing in February 2002, and won’t in any case include the United States).
- “Membership states in the tens, moves to the hundreds in the second phase, and finally to the thousands. The electronic town meeting can enlist tens of thousands participants or more – there is no real limit.” Pg 179
-Connection: LAUREN
  • In chapter 16, Rischard talks about how a lack of boundaries isn't good for the people who have to solve the problems. Think about it on a school level: if we don't know the boundaries of a test, if we don't know where to stop studying, it's going to be really hard for us to know what to study and to get a goo grade if the teacher doesn't tell us what it's on.
  • In chapter 19, Rischard talks about how enforcement is necessary in order for the rules to be effective in global issues networks. If no one enforced the dress code, the rules would be useless. If no one enforced us to do get good grades, we wouldn't do as well.
  • Another thing Rischard talks about is the global issues networks applying pressure to the original set up and pressuring them to do well. Our teachers put pressure on us and because of that we try harder and do better. Our couches put pressure on us to do better and because of that we improve.
  • In chapter 20 Rischard talks says: "One could expect the existence of global issues networks to prompt civil-society players to form multiple networks just for the purpose of participation." (184). If we care about something, we are going to do it just to participate in it because we care about it. Take clubs for instance; students make clubs because they care about the topic and because they want to be involved. People do community service because they want to and that inspires other people to do community service because they want to do it to be involved.
  • In chapter 21 Rischard talks about how the global issues networks are as simple or easy as they seem. Take managing a schedule or having to balance school, sports, homework, etc- it's not as easy as it looks.

-Research: WILL
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61602S20100207- This is a webpage that talks about the latest G7 meeting which was a important part of what Rischard was talking about these chapters.
http://www.g20.org/- This is a website talking about the G20 that was fromed like Rischard and shows how it is different than what Rischard thought it would be.
http://www.transparency.org/- This is the website for Transparency International which is a NGO trying to expose and correct political corruption on which was used as an example, on pg. 192, of using reputation as a tool to network many governments.
http://www.internationalrivers.org/node/348- This is the website for the Global Commision of Dams which Rischard used as an example on pg. 191 so by using this network we can see how his ideas have worked throughout the years.

Works Cited